


Field Exchange

by tatersalad5001



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Emotional Manipulation, Family, Gen, Panic Attacks, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-31 11:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17848274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: For as long as she could remember, Luna's brother had promised to protect her. Leo had always been her hero. Even after she couldn't remember his voice anymore, couldn't remember his face anymore, she held onto that promise. She stayed stubborn in Leo's silence. Perhaps Sayer had made a mistake in tearing someone away from a family they knew loved them, instead of pulling someone from the ashes of a family they'd severed all ties from. She still hung onto Leo's promise. Even as that promise became increasingly difficult to believe in.Getting the part was easy. It was during the getaway that Crow ran into a problem. He had no idea how to handle some girl, who clearly belonged in the city, having a breakdown in the middle of the Satellite. But thankfully he didn't have to solve this one alone. Seconds after Crow found her and stopped, trying to figure out what to do, Yusei showed up, unsure what he was doing there but just as eager to help. That's how Crow found Yusei again, and how the two of them met Akiza.





	Field Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> I've been cleaning out my room lately, and occasionally I keep finding bits and pieces of fanfics I wrote in middle school, quite a bit of it that I never published, either. One of the fanfics I found was a character swap, and it's been in my head ever since. Eventually, indirectly, leading to this. (The old fanfic was of a book series, not yugioh, and nothing else plot related or anything is really similar. This is something else entirely, and nothing from the old fanfic besides bits of inspiration here and there will probably ever see the light of day, as with most unpublished things I wrote 10 years ago.) I've also just recently gotten to chapter 3 of World Championship 2010, and that game just keeps giving me more and more inspiration, too.
> 
> This...I guess, is a character swap fic. The idea beamed into my head a week ago from there I literally couldn't stop writing to do nothing much more than sleep until it was done. It's been awhile since I watched season one of 5Ds...so, I did a fair amount of research to try to make sure things are accurate, though definitely not as much as I absolutely could've. If anything's off, it might a result of the swap, I may have remembered something wrong, or in my research I didn't find anything, or found something wrong (the Yugioh wiki is certainly not absent of error). Sorry about that! Just...please, grin and bare it. And this is one of the few things I've ever written really involving Akiza; don't expect this to be...a pattern.
> 
> Thanks for stopping by! I hope y'all enjoy!

When Luna was only a few years old, she fell into a coma while her consciousness stayed in another dimension, where Duel Spirits lived. The Spirit World.

After finally waking up, few truly believed the tale she told. Of those few, however, one of the believers proved to be the wrong person to trust with the knowledge. Before she was cleared to be released from the hospital, Luna disappeared without a trace.

Her parents hired the best money could buy to look for her. Leo ran around New Domino every day to search for himself. But years passed, and not even a sign of her could be found anywhere.

* * *

It was supposed to be simple. Break into this facility, get the Duel Runner part needed, and get back out before Sector Security showed up. Of course it was risky, especially when there were kids depending on him to come home at the end of the day, but Crow's Duel Runner needed the replacement. It wouldn't run without it. Without a working Duel Runner, without dueling... he didn't have much of a future.

In the old days, Crow wouldn't be working on his Duel Runner himself. He'd probably still need to steal the part, sure. But he and his friends probably would've been working on the Duel Runner together. They never got their hands on one back then, or were able to make one themselves, no matter how much they dreamed about it. Yusei was starting to prove he had a talent for this kind of thing, though. He'd fixed up a thing or two of Martha's back then, when no one else could figure it out. 

That was the old days, though. After Kalin's arrest, the rest of the gang drifted apart. It'd been a long time since Crow had seen Yusei or Jack, and he had his doubts he'd ever see Kalin alive again. Now, Crow was on his own. He'd picked up enough to get this done.

Getting the part was easy. It was during the getaway while avoiding Security that Crow ran into a problem. For once, the problem wasn't avoiding Sector Security itself. As thankful as he was for that, though, he at least would've known what to do about that.

He had no idea how to handle some girl, only a few years younger than him, having a breakdown in the middle of the Satellite. Crow'd never seen her before, she looked like she belonged in the city, not here. But thankfully he didn't have to solve this one alone. Seconds after Crow found her and stopped, trying to figure out what to do, Yusei showed up, unsure what he was doing there but just as eager to help. Between the two of them, they were able to help calm her down.

That's how Crow found Yusei again, and how the two of them met Akiza.

* * *

For as long as she could remember, Luna's brother had promised to protect her. Leo had always been her hero. Even after she couldn't remember his voice anymore, couldn't remember his face anymore, she held onto that promise. It'd been years since she'd seen him, but she clung onto that promise. It was all she had left of him, and it frustrated Sayer endlessly.

"Forget about him. If he cared about you, if your family really cared about you, they would've at least made an attempt to reunite with you." Luna heard this from him often, with varying amounts of frustration in his tone. "Obviously they haven't. I'm the only person you have, I'm the only person that cares about you. I'm the only person you need to protect you from the world."

"Leo wouldn't break a promise. When I really need him again, he'll be there for me."

Luna stayed stubborn in Leo's silence. Perhaps Sayer had made a mistake in tearing someone away from a family they knew loved them, instead of pulling someone from the ashes of a family they'd severed all ties from. As much as Luna argued against him, though, Sayer's words were painful to hear and penetrated deep. She still hung onto Leo's promise. Even as that promise became increasingly difficult to believe in.

She clung to what she had left of her family, in her memories, even as Sayer convinced her that she didn't need them and they didn't want her.

The Arcadia Movement was primarily made of psychic duelists, working to help them control their powers and giving them a place to belong when the rest of the world rejected them. Luna, however, was not one of these duelists. She could see Duel Spirits, but had no ability to bring them into her world, or at the very least, she hadn't shown that ability so far. The Arcadia Movement also wanted to help the rest of the world understand psychic duelists and help psychic duelists live among the rest of the world without fear. That was where Luna came in. Her connection to the Spirit World was the missing link between duelist and spirit. If that link was studied and understood, then they could all live without fear. And Luna wanted to help. 

(This, was at least, what the Arcadia Movement told anyone willing to join their ranks, and anyone they tried to recruit. Sayer's true ambitions were unknown by those he kept close to him.)

A few of the movement's most talented duelists with the strongest abilities became faces of the organization. Luna dueled little, especially outside the movement. Between her already frail health and their research, there were many days where it was too much for her. But whenever she did, she had a reputation for never losing. Dueling was almost second nature to her. She kept her identity secret from the public, wearing a mask over her face, in front of her hair that she pulled back, down in twin pigtails. Whenever she was seen by others, they whispered to each other in fear, calling her the Demon Whisperer.

Psychic duelists were feared by the public. In their ignorance, they could only see the pain that could be caused, not the pain that could be healed or the lives that could be helped. Luna's abilities were different, but people learned about those, too, and rumors spread out of fear. She could see spirits, talk to them, and go to their world. However, people seemed to think she could bring the spirits to their world as well, without any need for cards or a duel, with no limit to how many crossed over, how long they remained, or what they did. They feared she would bring all spirits to their world to destroy it, to destroy them. They feared she could turn them into spirits, too. They feared she was nothing but a tool for spirits, that they could use her to do whatever they wanted to the world of humans.

They were all so thoughtless. So many of the rumors weren't true. Plus, there were far more spirits than people thought there were, and so few spirits had any desire to do harm to others compared to how many only wanted to help. Yet the world rejected her, and Sayer convinced Luna to reject them as well.

One day, maybe, they'd understand. That's what her part in the research was for. If they could understand, it would be worth it. If they could understand, that would be the day when Luna accepted the rest of the world.

* * *

"You should stay away from me," Akiza warned them. "You mean well, but you don't know. I'll just end up hurting you, too."

No matter what she said, Crow and Yusei refused to leave her alone. They took her to Martha, and the three of them began spending more time at Martha's. Akiza herself rarely left. She had nowhere else to go.

"You ain't from the Satellite, are ya?" Crow asked her one day. "You look way too nice to live anywhere around here. ...Uh, no offense."

"None taken?" It put a smile on Akiza's face for just a moment, but she couldn't maintain it. "You're right, though. I grew up in the city, I've...never been here before."

"Then why did you come here?" Yusei asked.

"When I was a little girl, I used to love to duel. My dad taught me how. I wanted to duel with him all the time, and he promised we would, but he was really busy with work. Gone a lot more often than he was home. He'd have to leave on these long trips sometimes, too, and I...said some pretty awful things back then, because I wanted him to be around more. It felt like he cared more about his work than he did me, I guess. I was young, I didn't understand, but... that doesn't really excuse my actions, either.

"But then one day, he made the time for us to spend time together, to finally get to duel. I was so excited. It was so much fun. But after a couple of turns, he got a call to go into work anyway. Another broken promise. It felt like... someone dangling a prize in front of my face, only to pull it away at the last second. He couldn't help it, I know that now. Life here seems awful for you all, but life in the city isn't exactly fun and games, either. Some people work themselves to death just to keep living, so the people truly at the top can keep getting richer. We were better off than that, at least, and at least we had food, but I felt like I was alone. I didn't understand why my dad wouldn't make the time for me, why he couldn't make the time for me, and something in me snapped, I guess. Somehow the hologram for one of my cards became...real, and it attacked him. He got hurt. He called me a monster, and he wasn't the last."

She paused to look away, down at her hands folded together on the table. 

"After that, whatever power I have, I couldn't control it. I still can't. Every monster I summon in a duel, every Spell and Trap I play, they become real and they hurt people. I can't stop it and just let them be holograms. I can't prevent people from getting hurt when I duel. My parents sent me to Duel Academy. If anyone could help me, surely it was a school where dueling's most elite gathered, where duelists went to learn, the whole thing funded by KaibaCorp's seemingly endless money. The school couldn't find anything on file of anyone like me. There's rumors floating around the school, there's always rumors, but nothing official, and nothing that could help. There was nothing they could do. I was the top of my class there, but everyone I dueled got hurt because of me. Anyone who got close to me got injured. They all hated me. I was just as alone as before. So I...ran away.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone. I never wanted this. But it seems like it's all I'm capable of. The game I loved has caused so much pain that I can barely stand to play it anymore. I didn't want to stay at Duel Academy, where I'd just hurt more people. I didn't want to go home, where I'd force my parents to live in fear again, and surely they didn't want me around anymore. They'd wanted to help me, everyone at Duel Academy wanted to help me at first, but I don't think anyone can. I decided it's better for me to stay alone, so I did. But there's no place in the city for a teenage girl living on the streets. I ended up here. I didn't know what to do anymore, I still don't. As long as I duel, you'll all probably be safe. And I still keep my cards because they remind me of the few times I got to duel Dad. They're all I have left of him anymore. I don't want to duel anymore, though, and I don't plan on it. But I'm sure that somehow, you'll just end up like everyone else, so please..." Tears filled her eyes. "Just leave me alone before I hurt you, too."

Yusei reached across the table and put his hand over hers. "Sorry, but that's just not our style."

Akiza blinked, looking up at them. Yusei and Crow were both smiling at her.

"You'er our friend now, and that's that. You can't get out of it. We never turn our backs on our friends, and we never stop trying to help them when they need it, either," Crow told her. "Honestly, so far you've helped us more than we've helped you. Somehow you brought me 'n Yusei together again, and we haven't seen each other since...the gang fell apart. So now we gotta make it up to you. We ain't dueling experts, but we can try to help you learn to control your ability if you want. And my word might not mean much to ya, but if you hurt us, we're still not gonna abandon you."

"Dueling's seen as a symbol of hope for a lot of us here in the Satellite. It helps us feel like we have a future. But it's not for everyone," Yusei added. "Everyone has a different part here. And you do, too, if you want it. If you don't want to duel, you don't have to. There's plenty of other ways to help people around here. We all do what we can to help each other survive. As long as you're here, you're not alone."

The tears streamed down Akiza's face, but for the first time in years, she wasn't filled with despair anymore.

Now she had a glimpse of hope.

* * *

Years had gone by, and no matter what anyone said to him, Leo never gave up on finding his sister again someday. He never lost hope of finding her. She was out there somewhere, and he was going to save her and bring her home.

During one of his searches, he found someone unconscious. Working off a gut feeling, he managed to bring him home. When he woke up, he couldn't remember anything about who he was or how they got here, so Leo promised to do whatever he could to help. Honestly, he was excited to actually have company. His parents were gone so often that the apartment felt really lonely.

Yusei stayed for a couple of days. Leo tried to do whatever he could. He convinced Yusei to duel him, and the duel helped jog his memory. Of course it did. Dueling brought people together and helped them understand each other. It solved problems all the time. Yusei was from the Satellite, so he felt like staying around would be bad for Leo. Leo didn't mind. But after fixing Leo's duel disk to be the right size for him, Yusei left.

Leo missed him, but Yusei came back into his life sooner than he expected. The Fortune Cup was announced, and coming soon, and Yusei was one of the duelists invited to be in it.

There was no way he was passing up the chance to see his friend again. Plus, Jack was going to be part of the whole thing, too! Leo was going to see this tournament in person.

* * *

Sometimes this mark would glow on Luna's arm. She had no idea why, or where it came from. It sometimes showed up while she was dueling, but other times she wasn't, and it just came out of nowhere. Was it related to her ability to see spirits, her connection to the Spirit World, or was it something else entirely? She didn't know, and it was kind of scary. But she tried not to worry about it too much.

She got an invitation to New Domino City's Fortune Cup one day. She had no idea why. She dueled so little, her part in the Arcadia Movement was much more research and experiment-based than actually dueling herself. She didn't really want to go. However, her appearance could bring the Arcadia Movement more publicity, positive publicity they desperately needed, and they could reach more people and help them. So she agreed to participate.

One thing she wasn't counting on was running into her  _dear_ brother again. She recognized him instantly, even if she'd forgotten what he looked like before, because he'd barely changed and he looked so much like her. He'd loved dueling, probably still did, so of course he wanted to be here himself to watch the tournament. He was just doing whatever he wanted, what he thought sounded fun. He wasn't looking for her. He didn't need her.

The two of them did bump into each other quite literally. Luna had the mask over her face, and the way she pulled her hair back, it was hard to see from anywhere but behind. Leo seemed to catch a glimpse of it though, and he could see enough of her to recognize her.  ~~Maybe he just wanted to think it was her, that after years of separation they finally found each other again...~~

"Luna?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am," she told him. "You're in my way. I have to get in before the Fortune Cup starts."

"Luna, is that you? It's me, Leo, your brother!" Ugh, his voice was more grating than she thought it'd been. "It's really you, isn't it? I've been looking for you, I never stopped, I never gave up on finding you again, I..."

No. That was a lie. "I never saw any sign of it. You're lying. All you've ever done is lie. You promised to protect me, Leo! You promised you'd always be there for me! Where were you the last several years? You never protected me, you were never there for me. You left me on my own when I needed you most. Why pretend to start caring now?" She didn't need him to protect her. He'd already failed. All she needed was Sayer, he was the only person who cared about her now, who protected her from the hateful world around her. He was the only one who never broke his promises.  ~~Sayer wasn't here to protect her from this, though. He'd gone to the Fortune Cup ahead of time, he had something he needed to take care of. She was alone again.~~

"Luna..." Leo reached a hand out towards her.

Luna turned away from him. "I couldn't wait for you to keep your empty promises forever. I don't need you anymore." She walked away. This was the longer route to get to the Fortune Cup now, but she couldn't help that now. She didn't have a choice.

* * *

In the Satellite, Akiza stayed around Martha. Martha taught her all kinds of things she'd never learned at home. Akiza learned to cook, clean, how to treat scrapes and bumps and gently kiss the pain away, how to comfort kids after a nightmare and soothe them back into sleep. Martha said she was a natural at it. She had a good heart perfectly suited for helping people.

It filled her with joy. Finally, she knew how to make positive differences in people's lives. She could make up for the terrible things she'd done before now.

Yusei and Crow worked with her on her abilities, too. It was hard at first. There were injuries and screams and tears and setbacks. But none of them gave up. Neither of them were scared of her even after seeing her power in action. They promised they'd figure it out together. With their friendship and support, Akiza finally started to gain some control. 

Fear, she realized, her fear of herself and what she could do was part of what was preventing her from controlling it. Fear and anger and guilt were holding her back. When she let go of it remembered how much her friends believed in her and how much she believed in them, now, she started making progress. She found what was missing. The feeling of being loved.

Akiza loved her friends, and they loved her, and it gave her strength and helped her gain control. Her power became her own, instead of a curse following her. She was able to duel without inflicting any pain. With that confidence, she dueled more, too.

Still, she was surprised when she and Yusei both received invitations to participate in the Fortune Cup. Yusei she wasn't surprised about. He was great, he could win this. Her invitation felt like a mistake, though, and she felt bad that Crow was left out of it.

"Nah, I'm fine. You two go win it for the Satellite," Crow said. "After Jack went and betrayed the Satellite to go live high and mighty in the city, stealing from Yusei to do it? I'm not interested in dueling him. I don't have anything to say to him. Just beat him into a pulp for me. I'll be there to cheer you on."

True to his word, Crow snuck into the city to support them in person. He and Yusei's new friend, Leo, sat next to each other to cheer everyone on together. The rest of their friends from the Satellite watched from home. Akiza was happy with that. The last thing she wanted was for them to get arrested because of her.

She was getting ready to go out for one of her matches when Yusei grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Leo was really upset when he got here," Yusei said. "His twin sister disappeared years ago, while she was in the hospital. He found her again today, but she wanted nothing to do with him. She thought he abandoned her. He's been looking for her every day she was gone, and for her to reappear like that..." He shook his head. "She's your next opponent. She's participating in the Fortune Cup. I'm not telling you to throw the match for her, or anything like that. I don't know what I'm telling you to do. Do whatever you think you need to, I just...thought you should know."

Akiza swallowed. She knew how it felt to feel abandoned. "Thank you for telling me."

"You'll do great out there."

As Akiza turned on her duel disk, looking at her opponent across from her on the field, she frowned. This was one of the faces of the Arcadia Movement. She'd heard a few things here and there about them, some good, some bad. Now she knew this was also Leo's missing twin sister, Luna. She wasn't wearing that mask now. Akiza had seen Leo once or twice, enough to know that her face looked exactly like his. There was no doubt that this was her.

So, the Arcadia Movement apparently kidnapped children, tearing them away from their families. It made Akiza feel sick. Her heart felt like it was on fire.

"Families aren't perfect!" Akiza called out to Luna a few turns into the duel. "Parents aren't perfect! Even if they want to give you the world, sometimes they can't. Just because they can't find time for you, or even can't find you at all, doesn't mean they don't want you. It doesn't mean they don't care. The world is cruel, and sometimes there's nothing they can do."

"The world is cruel," Luna agreed. "People don't understand each other. I just want to help people understand each other, to bring them together. I don't need a family who can't even keep their promises to me to do that."

Akiza winced. The words only reminded her of herself, but she plowed through. "The Arcadia Movement isn't the way to unite people. People feared and hated me for my powers, too." So far, in the Fortune Cup, she hadn't used her powers, letting everything remain as holograms. The next monster she summoned, though, she used her ability on. Its vines landed on the floor, shaking the stadium. "I couldn't control it. I thought I was alone. I left home, left school, because I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore. But I found friends who stuck by my side. They understood me and helped me, so I could help people instead of causing pain. The friends I found united people together, and together we were all stronger. Not everyone allows fear and hate to guide their actions. The Arcadia Movement is dividing people. It can only lead to more hate and suffering, more misunderstanding. It isn't the right way."

"We're not separating people," Luna insisted. "We're saving them, from everyone around them who doesn't understand. We have to hide because the world's afraid of, we're not wanted. Until we can help everyone understand, we don't have a choice."

"You do have a choice. Not everyone's like that. No one can do everything for you, but there are people who will do everything they can for you, people who only want to help. People who refuse to be afraid of others just because they're different." Akiza's free hand clenched into a fist. "Your brother is one of those people. He looks for you every day, hoping to find you again. He wants to fulfill his promise to you, to make up for the time you lost together that he couldn't. He's trying so hard to reach out to you, and he's not the only one. I want to help you, too. So do the rest of our friends. If we come together and work for it, we can unite people. We haven't abandoned you yet. Please don't turn your back on us."

"No, you're lying. He never... I didn't..." Luna stopped to rub at one of her eyes. "I wanted to believe in Leo. I wanted to believe in his promise, I really did. But there was never any sign of him. No sign anyone ever was looking for me. How am I supposed to believe that now?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance. All he wants to do is make it up to you. I know, because... that's all I want, too. I just want to make up for everything I did and said to hurt people. If I could find a way, he can, too, and so can you. It's hard when you're alone, but neither of you will be. We'll be here for you, and you'll have each other."

Luna bit her lip. The duel ended soon after that. Akiza ran to Luna as soon as Luna's life points hit zero. As Luna began to sob, Akiza knelt down and pulled her into a hug.

"I just want to go home. I missed him so much, I just-- I want to be with him again--" Luna cried into Akiza's shoulder.

Akiza rubbed her back. "You can. It'll be okay. Everything will be okay..."

Soon, she needed to track down her own parents again. She needed to apologize, and to make things right with them. She had friends who loved and supported her now, and she was eternally grateful for it, but... She missed her family, too.

 

 


End file.
